Allina Nurses Reject Contract, Remain on Strike in Minnesota

Labor News

DAVID JOLES – STAR TRIBUNE
Valerie Johnson, an RN at Abbott Northwestern Hospital, added to the pile as MNA nurses, Minnesota Nurses Association employees and family members joined forces at the MNA headquarters to make posters for picketing Saturday, June 18, 2016, should a strike happen Sunday at five Twin Cities Allina Health facilities. Cooper' mother Shannon Cunningham is a MNA employee.

Reprinted from The Minneapolis Star Tribune by Jeremy Olson on October 4, 2016.

Allina Health hospital nurses voted Monday night to reject a contract offer from their employer, increasing the likelihood that their walkout over health benefits, staffing and safety concerns will go down as the longest nursing strike in Minnesota history.

While the Minnesota Nurses Association had not recommended a “no” vote, many nurses said they felt Allina’s latest offer was too similar to one they rejected in August, and to the terms their union negotiators rejected during last-ditch negotiations in September to avert a strike.

A new sign reading “New Lipstick, Same Pig” appeared at the picket line outside Allina’s Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis Monday morning, foreshadowing the vote result that the union announced at 10:30 p.m. in St. Paul.